With an MSc degree in Physics and Science Communication & Society you are well prepared for a broad array of career prospects in research or industry. The master’s degree is an excellent preparation for a career at the interface of science and public affairs.

How do balanced lethal systems originate and persist in nature?

This book, edited by Joost Augusteijn, Constant Hijzen and Mark Leon de Vries, explores how democratic regimes have dealt with anti-democratic forces in society, from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century.

Metalworking Skill and Material Specialization in Early Bronze Age Central Europe

Conceptualizing ceasefires as bargaining instruments challenges established ideas about the processes that lead up to conflict settlement, and about war re-emergence, with important implications for our understanding of war and peace.

Jasmina Mačkić, Assistant Professor of Human Rights Law at the Europa Institute, has published her book, Proving Discriminatory Violence at the European Court of Human Rights. This work is based on her doctoral dissertation, which she defended in May 2017 and which was funded by the Netherlands Organisation…

The Leiden Institute of Chemistry actively participates in several national research schools for MSc and PhD students. These schools are consortia that stimulate collaboration between research groups of the different participating Dutch universities. The research schools also offer advanced training…

The project aims to develop an escape room-style game to teach students cyber crisis management and prepare them for real-world cybersecurity challenges

The Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) is a centre of excellence for multidisciplinary research and education in computer science and artificial intelligence (AI).

Linguistic Choices in the Contemporary City focuses on how individuals navigate conversation in highly diversified contexts and provides a broad overview of state of the art research in urban sociolinguistics across the globe.

Examining mediation and moderation.

It is an established fact that the Standard Model has to be extended to explain the so-called Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) phenomena: dark matter, matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe and neutrino flavour oscillations.

This is a research project on the implementation of national mathematics curriculum reform in Chinese junior high school. The research is expected to provide insight into the ways and reasons of mathematics teachers in Chinese junior high school for implementing national curriculum reform.

Explore philosophical research and education at the Leiden Institute for Philosophy. Our scholars study knowledge, ethics and existence, connecting classical and contemporary thought.

Why do sexual violence policies still fail to systematically address men and masculinities, when the need for cultural change among men has been central in public debates since #MeToo?

Promotores: H.W. Lenstra, K. Belabas (University of Bordeaux)

Never has good policy been so important. From unemployment and a lack of affordable housing to regulating cryptocurrencies and protecting against cybersecurity threats, the challenges we face are complex and global. The text explains how policymaking works: from the emergence of policy ideas to deciding…

The Leiden University Centre for International Relations (LUCIR) is a multi-disciplinary platform promoting research and education on international relations at Leiden University.

At LUCL we study almost all aspects of a wide range of African languages. From phonology to anthropological linguistics, from theoretical syntax to urban youth languages, we study it all.

This article studies the perceived legitimacy of EU enforcement actions.

On 22 June, Anneke Koning defended the thesis 'Return to sender: a multi-method study of guardianship against transnational sexual exploitation of children'. The doctoral research was supervised by Joanne van der Leun, Masja van Meeteren and Johan van Wilsem.

Promotor: Prof.dr. D. Bouwmeester, Co-Promotor: M.J.A. de Dood

We aim to create an innovative e-learning and virtual reality training that helps healthcare providers to optimize placebo effects and minimizes nocebo effects via their communication.

The Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) is the basis for research and collaborations of the Leiden chemistry groups. Chemistry is the central science enabling a healthy future in a sustainable society. Chemistry researchers at Leiden University take a fundamental approach in finding tailored solutions…

How are the narrative concerns of Nigerian female writers constructed in relation to the structure to their society?

In this research I assess the impact of the recently discovered gas reserves south off Cyprus on the escalation of the Cyprus conflict.

This project proposes an integrated and comparative study on the syntactic, semantic, prosodic and processing aspects of in-situ wh-questions, taking the Grammar-parser correspondence hypothesis (Phillips 1996, 2003) as a guiding principle.

The focus of this programme is the inter-community social relationships and transformations of island networks in the Lesser Antilles across the historical divide.

The precise psychobiological mechanisms leading to chronic physiological stress responses have not been sufficiently explained, although stress is a major risk factor for disease and early death. A problem for conventional stress theory is that most of these responses seem to occur in situations without…

This project looks at how the native language influences processing mechanisms of non-native language(s) as well has how it influences brain structure and functional connectivity.

Empirical and experimental research focusing on literary, legal, medical and audiovisual translation.

The aim of this study was to provide insight into how teachers in higher education can be supported in the design, implementation and evaluation of group assignments by developing a theoretical and evidence-based framework for the design of group assignments.

‘It became very clear that Brazilian legislative policy was frail, obsolete and unreliable,’ says Felipe de Paula. He defended his dissertation on the limits and possibilities of legislative policy in Brazil on Tuesday 27 March 2018.

On the 14th of June, Yliana Rodriquez successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Yliana on this achievement!

This dissertation provides a description of Konso, a Cushitic language spoken by about 250,000 speakers in the South-West Ethiopia.

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University is renowned for its international orientation and broad range of theoretical, methodological, and regional expertise.

Promotor: J.W. van Holten

The

This project aims at investigating the syntactic role of focus in ellipsis across languages.

Information for prospective, current and international students

The key questions posed in this dissertation centre on the interaction between spectator and artwork. What happens between a spectator and an artwork? How do we experience ‘meaning’ in an artwork? How may the process of interpretation be understood and articulated?

Stam defended his dissertation ‘Freedom of speech and the suppression of discrimination in the Netherlands: a constitutional-developmental approach’ on 12 November 2025. The doctoral research was supervised by Afshan Ellian and Bastiaan Rijpkema

This book is the first comparative study of estimative intelligence and strategic surprise in a European context, complementing and testing insights from previous studies centred on the United States. It does extensive empirical analysis of open-source material and interviews in relation to three cases…

This project examines how speakers store and process regular pitch variation.

The master’s in Philosophy is a one-year, English-taught programme. The programme offers five specialisations:

This GUTS Special Issue focuses on the dynamic relationship between neurobiological development and social experiences in shaping young people's engagement and contributions to society. It explores how young individuals grow up in an increasingly complex world and how various factors – such as family…

n an increasingly complex and security-challenged society, the CSM programme, Governance of Violence, provides you with the theoretical and practical skills to understand the issues underlying security challenges and develop solutions for crisis and security management.

Late Antiquity is characterized by migration movements, political unrest and religious strife. The way we assess these religious conflicts is often coloured by a post-Reformation understanding of ‘religion’. In my research, I show that late ancient authors understood religion in a way that differs much…

To what extent is it possible to utilise traditional and new media data to examine and understand the nature and scope of homicide in Indonesia?

Our research group Intelligence and Security, provides a diverse range of educational opportunities that combine theoretical foundations with practical applications in intelligence and security.